Transgender wrestler has ‘top surgery’ and sex changed to ‘male’ on birth certificate

At this time last year, the sports community was still in an uproar about the upcoming UIL state wrestling tournament with Euless Trinity’s Mack Beggs looking to defend the 110-pound girls’ championship.

Beggs was in the process of transitioning from female to male but was forced to compete against girls due to the UIL rules governing competition.

Much has changed in 12 months. Much has not.

Following a repeat state championship for Beggs to cap off an undefeated senior season, he then competed for Team Texas in the junior division of the USA Wrestling’s Greco-Roman and Freestyle divisions and captured third place in both styles, competing against men.

In August 2018, Beggs finally got the surgery he had been waiting for. He underwent “top surgery” or the conversion to a more male-like chest contour.

Then, on Jan. 4 of this year, Beggs’ birth certificate was reissued in a Dallas County courtroom, stating the sex as ‘Male.’

Today, with the UIL rules unchanged, Beggs would be able to compete with the guys. But Beggs graduated last year and is now in a medical redshirt season as a walk-on for the men’s team at Life University in Marietta, GA.

The rule, which kept Beggs from wrestling boys, stated that athletes must compete in the gender division as stated on their birth certificate.

“It was a pretty big deal,” Beggs said of the birth certificate change. “I can now get my gender changed on my license in Texas. I also need to get changes on my insurance and medical records.”

The big step, according to Beggs, was finally getting the long-awaited top surgery.

“It really helps me mentally and physically,” he said.

The surgery cut into a portion of the pectoral muscle causing his rehab to extend longer than he’d like. But Beggs said he’s now getting more time on the mat to practice wrestling as he’s slowly building back his strength.

As he looks back on the circus that followed him heavily leading up to last year’s state meet, Beggs said he wouldn’t have changed anything about the journey.

“It’s made me stronger. The fact that I put myself in a position not wanting to just beat everyone in my weight class, but also to be better and stronger,” he said.

Beggs has traveled from New York to California, appearing on programs such as Tosh.0 and receiving awards from various equality and athletic organizations.

Along the way, Beggs’ story has been used as both a rallying cry for transgender issues as well as the inequities of sports in society. His story has been divisive and unifying.

The struggle between an athlete, rules and society have drawn plenty of attention in various arenas.

This spring, a short film distributed by ESPN Films, Mack Wrestles, will be shown at the SXSW Film Festival. The film tracks Beggs from his junior year to now.

Directors of the short film, Taylor Hess and Erin Sanger, said the collision of sports and society created a prime chance to tell Beggs’ story.

“For me, sports is a microcosm that reflects the social and political landscape of our time and can help us to better understand ourselves and our relations to others,” Hess said. “I hope this film resonates not only with sports fans, athletes, schools and organizations, but can open a dialogue for all of us to talk about an equitable space for trans athletes.”

Sanger noted that as the hype settled, there was still an opportunity to “create an intimate and personal portrait of Mack and his grandmother Nancy, allowing our audience to understand their journeys not only as an athlete and an ally, but as people.”

That whirlwind of a high school career, though, helped land Beggs in a welcoming and athletically-challenging environment at Life University, where the school has a solid wrestling program.

“It’s all progressed me to where I am now,” Beggs said. “It’s a great NAIA program and it’s set me up with great training partners and an opportunity to meet great people.

“The school has a lot of LGBT kids and is really friendly. I haven’t been treated negatively in any way. The guys on the team don’t treat me any differently. It’s been better for enlightenment purposes. I’m not the sole center of attention.”

Meanwhile, Beggs said he’s still interested in how his old teammates are doing at Trinity and is able to keep up with the Trojans, mostly via social media posts by coaches and friends.

With those seasons of scrutiny behind him, Beggs is happy to be looking ahead.

“I’m just trying to live my life,” he said.